Costa Rica’s Coast Guard recently arrested three Colombians in connection with the seizure of between 200 and 300 kilograms the suspects allegedly hid on a boat in the Pacific Ocean.
Costa Rica’s Coast Guard recently arrested three Colombians in connection with the seizure of between 200 and 300 kilograms the suspects allegedly hid on a boat in the Pacific Ocean.
The Coast Guard stopped the boat, which had an Ecuadorean flag hand painted on its side, in an area of international waters that’s commonly used by narco-traffickers to transport drugs between Panama and Costa Rica. Coast Guard agents confiscated the cocaine, which was wrapped in eight bags, and transported it to the Prosecutor’s Office in Province of Puntarenas.
The country disbanded its Army in 1948, leaving the Coast Guard responsible for protecting Costa Rican waters. The Central American nation is a key transshipment point for international drug traffickers who transport cocaine from South America into Mexico, the United States, Canada and Europe. About 80 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States is trafficked through Mexico and Central America, the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board stated in its 2014 Report.
Costa Rica made important strides in its counter-narcotics fight in 2014, seizing more than 26 metric tons of cocaine – a record amount for one year and up from 21.8 metric tons seized in 2013. During the year Costa Rican law enforcement authorities confiscated $13 million (USD) from narco-traffickers and broke up 124 national and international criminal organizations.
Costa Rica’s Coast Guard recently arrested three Colombians in connection with the seizure of between 200 and 300 kilograms the suspects allegedly hid on a boat in the Pacific Ocean.
The Coast Guard stopped the boat, which had an Ecuadorean flag hand painted on its side, in an area of international waters that’s commonly used by narco-traffickers to transport drugs between Panama and Costa Rica. Coast Guard agents confiscated the cocaine, which was wrapped in eight bags, and transported it to the Prosecutor’s Office in Province of Puntarenas.
The country disbanded its Army in 1948, leaving the Coast Guard responsible for protecting Costa Rican waters. The Central American nation is a key transshipment point for international drug traffickers who transport cocaine from South America into Mexico, the United States, Canada and Europe. About 80 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States is trafficked through Mexico and Central America, the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board stated in its 2014 Report.
Costa Rica made important strides in its counter-narcotics fight in 2014, seizing more than 26 metric tons of cocaine – a record amount for one year and up from 21.8 metric tons seized in 2013. During the year Costa Rican law enforcement authorities confiscated $13 million (USD) from narco-traffickers and broke up 124 national and international criminal organizations.